After Independence, Ravneet Bittu is the first Punjabi to be appointed as MoS railways; second time ministry comes in Punjab’s kitty
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ June 10,2024
Today, Ravneet Singh Bittu has created a history by becoming the first Punjabi to be appointed as Minister of States (MoS) for Railways.
Till date no leader from Punjab has ever been appointed Minister of State (MoS), since independence.
First general elections were held in India between 25 October 1951 and 21 February 1952, the first democratic elections after India attained independence in 1947. . The first MoS, railways was K. Santhanam and he remained MoS from 1-10-1948 to 29-02-1952. From 1952 to 1964 no MoS was appointed. Dr. Ram Subhag Singh remained MoS from 13.06.1964 13.03.1967.
Till date 34 politicians remained as Minister of State (MoS) for railways. from North India Mohammad Shafi Qureshi a politicain from J&K remained MoS from 10.10.1974 to 24.03.1977
On the other hand Swaran Singh a seasoned politicians from Punjab remained Cabinet Minister, railways from 10.04.1962 to 21 .09. 1963
Most of the time the railways ministry remained with the politicians from Bihar, UP, west Bengal, southern Indian states. Till date 43 cabinet minister holds the reins of the railway ministry. In other words, railway ministry comes to Punjab’s kitty after 1963 when Swaran Singh had left the charge.
Though Gulzari Lal Nanda was also a Punjabi but after partition he shifted to Bombay. He also remained cabinet minister for railways from 18-02-1970 to 17.03.1971.
Only on few occasions it remained with north Indian states. Like Bansi Lal a seasoned Politician from Haryana remained cabinet minister Railways from 31 .12. 1984 to 04.06. 1986, Pawan Kumar Bansal who represented Chandigarh in lower house remained cabinet minister from 28 .10. 2012 to 10 .05. 2013.
After Independence, Ravneet Bittu is the first Punjabi to be appointed as MoS railways; second time ministry comes in Punjab’s kitty. Ravneet Singh Bittu had lost the recently concluded general elections from Ludhiana on BJP’s ticket. But, due to his proximity with BJP’s second in command Amit Shah, he is included in the Modi 3.0 cabinet. Today the PM Modi appointed him as Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways. He will be under Ashwini Vaishnaw, Cabinet Minister of Railways.